Saint Valentine & How He Defied an Overreaching Government
The story of a man who did what was right instead of what was expected. He chose love and not war.
This is a story Danielle worked on for the children’s curriculum this week because today is Valentine’s Day.
We celebrate a lot of holidays without really knowing what their origin or intent was. So when Danielle informed me and the children about this story I was really intrigued and wanted to share it with all of you.
There are many myths and legends that try to explain how Valentine's Day came about and who Saint Valentine was. Today I’ll share the best and most popular story and how it relates to today’s events.
In Rome in the year 268. Emperor Claude II found that married men were less effective in his war efforts so he banned marriages of young men for a period of time.
A doctor-turned- priest named Valentine decided he would still perform marriages in secret. He was known around the land and people went to him secretly to get married.
He was eventually caught by the emperor and executed.
This is a great example of someone doing what's right instead of what was expected or what the authorities or governments wanted.
We can imagine that he was considered by many as being selfish and reckless for impeding the war effort of the country. He may have been shamed by the emperor for “being the reason why the war wasn’t going so well”
Emperor Claude famously said during a press conference at the time: Romans are angry with those who are still choosing love over war. Romans have to ask ourselves if we should tolerate this love-minded fringe minority for their unacceptable views. At the time the majority of the population agreed with the stance of the emperor likely due to government propaganda. So that’s why it was so easy to arrest, shame and execute Valentin.
Sorry. That last paragraph was made up by my imagination.
Anyways, Dave and I discuss this story along with other important topics in this week's episode of The Unacceptable Views Podcast. Check it out.